History
Although research networking in Europe first started in the late 1970s, it was mainly confined to developments of National Research Networks. The first serious pan-European co-operation started with the establishment of the RARE (Réseaux Associés pour la Recherche Européenne/European ASsociation of Research Networks) organisation in 1986. The first real attempt to define a longer term set of objectives and goals for European research networking was the COSINE project. COSINE (Co-operation for Open Systems Interconnection in Europe) had the aims of improving co-operation among research networks in Europe whilst at the same time promoting the development of OSI. It, therefore, had too many different targets to represent a strategic direction for European Research Networking. A more focussed approach was required.
The National Research Networking organisations, although grouped together within RARE, still needed an efficient and cost-effective vehicle to co-ordinate pan-European research networking on their behalf, and to ensure that project results were delivered on time, within budget and with high levels of reliability. The answer: DANTE.
After two years of preparations, DANTE was launched on 6 July 1993 at St John's College in Cambridge in the UK. Its mandate was "...to rationalise the management of otherwise fragmented, uncoordinated, expensive and inefficient transnational services and operational facilities."
During the first year of DANTE's existence, RARE was the legal owner and only shareholder. Then on 25 March 1994, the ownership of the company was formally transferred to 11 national research networking organisations. There have been some small changes, and four additions, to the shareholders' list over the years. More information about DANTE's shareholders is available from the link alongside.
Following on from the IXI (International X.25 Interchange) initiative which was part of the COSINE project, DANTE managed the EuropaNET project. EuropaNET was the first generation of pan-European research networks to be managed by DANTE, and the company has gone from strength to strength since then.
Since its creation in 1993, DANTE has played a pivotal role in the creation and management of four consecutive generations of pan-European research network: EuropaNET, TEN-34, TEN-155 and now GÉANT. All these networks have been established and supported in the context of European Union programmes, such as the Fourth and Fifth Framework Programme and eEurope. In addition, DANTE has managed or been a partner in numerous other research networking projects. Further details of all of these projects are available by selecting the Projects link at the side of this page.
- From 1993 to 1997, EuropaNET was developed. It connected 18 countries at speeds of 2Mbps and used IP technology.
- From 1997 to 1998, TEN-34 was developed, again connecting 18 countries, but now at speeds of 34Mbps and using both IP and ATM technology.
- From 1998 to 2001, TEN-155 was developed, connecting 19 countries at speeds of between 155 and 622 Mbps, again using IP and ATM technologies.
- From 2001 until 2004, the GÉANT network connects 32 countries at speeds of between 2.5 and 10Gbps. It uses DWDM technology and offers both IPv4 and IPv6 native services in dual-stack mode.
The development of each generation of network has typically been undertaken as a project involving a consortium of National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) with DANTE acting as a managing or coordinating partner.
As well as steadily improving pan-European research network connectivity, these networks have been used to conduct a number of test programmes, focusing primarily on ATM and quality of service (QoS). These have been carried out by Task Forces, such as Task Force TEN (TF-TEN), TF-TANT (Testing of Advanced Networking Technologies) and TF-NGN (New Generation Networks).
DANTE celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2003.
